The 5 Levels of Creativity in Design by Irving A. Taylor

I recently came across A Transactional Approach to Creativity and its Implications for Education by Irving A. Taylor. While this 1969 research on creativity may seem outdated, its quite interesting and touches on many aspect of creativity, which I’m sure will still provide reason for reflection.

The research states that creativity is initiated through initial experience of exposure, and is the desire for an individual to alter their environment in accordance with their perception of how it should be.

Which is to say that designers think changing their environment is necessary, otherwise they wouldn’t feel the need to be creative and reorganize anything.

At the root of creativity is a tension, or restlessness that is created because of the disparity between the personal perception of how the environment should be and how it actually is.

According to the research, creativity can be expressed in 5 levels which correlate to the disparity which the individual perceives.

My interpretation of the creative levels applied to design and their disruptive potential is as follows :-

Expressive Spontaneity – Is the spontaneous uncommitted doodle you make in your notebook during meetings. It may mean something, but its usually just and inconsequential distraction. Although, “freedom to create without training may result in products that are creative when the person in question has a great deal of talent”.

Productive Skill – Is the design proposal which fits within existing mainstream trends and common manufacturing processes, such as a the creativity of craftsman. Worth noting is how “Adhering to external rules of production can take on the character of conformity, unless the skills are transacted by individuality”.

Innovative Flexibility – Is creating a new use for a design, like the first running shoes for example. A design that stems from abstract ideas which offer a significant functional improvements from previous.

Emergentive Originality -A totally new disruptive design like the first footwear, which will inform new schools and trends. “Maximally abstract, where a person creates an entirely new way of perceiving a significantly large portion of the environment”.